Centuries
by Inimitable and Original
Summary: When Coulson recruits Clint Barton for a mission involving Hydra, an incident from his past gets dragged up and seemingly repeated with Barton. Will anyone look at the two the same way after? *discontinued*
1. Collision

" _It's not fair, Nick_!" The voice of 29 year old Phil Coulson shouted out. " _I can get this guy, I know I can_!"

" _Phil, you've been with S.H.I.E.L.D for the past 11 years. You know how things work around here_." Nick Fury said sternly. He was very much on the verge of shouting at his young mentee.

29 year old Melinda May and 28 year old Jasper Sitwell were stood outside Nick's office, listening in.

"Wanna bet $30 that Fury sends him right to debriefing?" Jasper chuckled.

"No, but I'd take it in the form of the fanciest meal in DC put in a doggie bag." Melinda smirked.

"Ooh, Melinda, you're on." Jasper said with a nod of his head.

"But Nick, I..." Phil shouted desperately from inside the office.

" _Get the hell out of my office, Coulson_." Nick snarled. " _That guy's dangerous. You dare even consider to go after him and I'll personally knock you out so hard, you'll wake up in the middle of next month_."

Phil growled. " _I'm not that innocent little 18 year old kid you recruited any more! Nick, I'm 29_!"

" _Act like it, then_!"

"I've never heard either of them go off like this before." Jasper noted. Melinda shook her head.

"Neither have I."

" _I don't want you going after him, Phil. You'll just end up hurt or worse_."

Phil's footsteps sounded louder as he approached the door. Melinda and Jasper scrambled away from the door as it swung open.

"Phil, are you okay?" Jasper asked.

"I'd be better if that whack job Lane is behind bars or maybe has a bullet or two lodged in his chest." Phil snarled as he stormed furiously down the corridor. A two eyed Nick Fury went to the door and watched Phil walk away. Melinda and Jasper looked at him.

"We weren't doing anything." Melinda shook her head. Jasper nodded in agreement.

"Right." Nick narrowed his eyes. "I'll believe _that_ when I see it." Melinda looked away. "Melinda. I'm worried about Phil. That he might be on his way to a mental breakdown." He admitted. "Keep an eye on him for me, please. Both of you. Make sure he does _not_ go track down Fenton Lane. He finds out Phil's after him, man'll put him in a coma or something."

"Nick?" Jasper asked.

"Lane's a maniac. Of the most dangerous sort." Nick sighed. "You care one _bit_ about your friend, you'll make _sure_ he doesn't go."

"Knowing Phil, that's where he went." Melinda said, concern evident in his voice.

"Commander Fury's rattled. This is serious." Jasper shook his head

"I know." Melinda nodded. "But if Phil's gone after Lane and Fury said not to, we have to go after him."

"Come on." Jasper sighed. "Let's go see if we can talk our Phil out of whatever he's planning."

* * *

"Barton!" The voice of 52 year old Phil Coulson shouted out. "Come on! We're taking out Hydra here!"

"I'm trying, Sir, I just am having difficulty believing you're still alive." Clint took an arrow from his quiver. "These last 4 years, I thought you were dead. Not that you'd just uh-lost your arm."

"Watch yourself, Clint." Phil snapped. "You know me well enough to know that I'm not above getting a prosthetic harpoon."

"Except you won't because it's impractical as director of S.H.I.E.L.D blah, blah." Clint loosed the arrow into a Hydra agent's eye. "Whatever, man."

"Barton, I'm warning you now to just behave." Phil growled.

"If you wanted good behavior, you wouldn't have come to me now, would you?" Clint smirked as he took another arrow from the quiver.

"The only reason I came to you, Barton is that you have a very specific skill set." Phil replied.

"Archery."

"Archery." Clint shook his head. "What, am I the _only_ archer you know or something?"

"Yes." Phil replied. Clint stared at him, stunned.

"Of all the people you know..." Clint loosed another arrow, which hit another agent.

"You're the only archer, yes." Phil confirmed. "Now don't go after this guy alone. He's dangerous and he'll probably kill you."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Coulson." Clint rolled his eyes. "But I'll be just _fine_ alone."

"No, you won't be." Phil shook his head. "You _think_ you will, because you and Romanoff never needed an extraction, but Barton, I've got news for you. Romanoff isn't here."

"Thanks for telling me what I already know." Clint loosed an arrow and quickly loosed another. "And I'm out of arrows."

"Good simulation, Barton." Phil clapped Clint on his shoulder. "You'll do well in the real thing, just try to move a _tiny_ bit quicker." Clint nodded as he adjusted his archery glove.

"You got it, Coulson." Clint said with a nod. "Nice to have you back, Sir."

"It's just nice that you know I'm not dead." Phil smiled.

"Oh, I've known for years, Sir." Clint raised an eyebrow. "Nat leaked all S.H.I.E.L.D's secrets, you don't think she found your then-recent mission reports?" Phil stared at the archer in shock. "What was it? Chasing 0-8-4s? The cleanup of Greenwich? Pursuit of Chitauri tech?"

"That's... Right." Phil said.

"She leaked none of it." Clint's eye twitched slightly. "None of it that mentioned you by name, anyway. And that includes Project T.A.H.I.T.I."

"You know about that?" Phil sighed sadly.

"I know it brought you back from the dead. No idea how." Clint shrugged as he began to restring his bow. "That has some relation to this Hydra thing, doesn't it?"

Phil nodded. "Clint, you can't say a word of this to anyone. Nobody else besides you and Romanoff know."

"Oh, by the way, Stark also knows." Clint nodded. "He used to hack S.H.I.E.L.D for kicks, of _course_ he knows." He paused. "Captain Rogers knows as well. He was a Level 8 agent. That information was made public knowledge to Level 7 and above. Nat and I were Level 7, Fury hid it from _us_ though."

"Does anyone else know?" Phil asked angrily.

"Banner." Clint nodded. Phil opened his mouth as if he was going to talk. "Stark told him."

"Does Thor know?"

"I think he's the only one who _doesn't_." Clint shrugged.

"Sif knows. I was wondering if she told him." Phil muttered.

"Oh man, even _Lady Sif_ knows?" Clint chuckled. "Heimdall knows-he's all seeing and all knowing. I think Thor is _probably_ the only one out the loop on this one-on Midgard _and_ on Asgard."

"Yeah well, don't tell him. I want to tell him myself." Phil grumbled.

"You got it, Sir." Clint gave a brief smile. "And I mean what I said earlier. I'm still surprised to see you alive."

"But you already knew I was alive."

Clint inhaled deeply. "Hearing about it and seeing it in person are two different things, Director Coulson. You should know that by now." He smirked.

"And I also mean what I said earlier." Phil's demeanor changed. "Do _not_ go after Hydra. I can't stress it enough, just don't, Barton, _don't_."

Clint picked up his bow. "You should know me well enough by now, Coulson." He said as he walked out of the training room.

"And that's the problem." Phil sighed and put his head in his hand.

* * *

 **A/N: If you read my other stories, my sincerest apologies. I have ADHD-no, I'm not just saying that-and I hope to be back on track with those soon-got some half written chapters and everything!-but inspiration for this hit me in the face like a wet fish and since I have ADHD, I learned I need to strike while the iron's hot. This is all written out already so don't worry about that, there's only a few chapters anyway.**

 **Oh and this will deal with the loss of Fury's eye-if you care about that kind of thing. It's also set in the year of my birth, 22 years ago, 1993.**

 **I don't own any of the Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D or any other character who may or may not make an appearance.**


	2. Pursual

"I feel like this is somehow all my fault." 29 year old Melinda May sighed as she stood over her badly injured best friend.

"If it's your fault, it's my fault too." Jasper Sitwell frowned. "When Fury said Lane would put Phil in a coma, I didn't quite anticipate it'd be like _this_."

"And Lane got free." Melinda snarled.

"Don't you dare-I am _not_ losing you too, Melinda." Jasper snapped. "Look at Phil-take a good look at him. The guy lost his mother and made the worst mistake of _his_ life. I don't want you to end up the same-you lose Phil and make the worst mistake of _your_ life."

Melinda sighed and put her hand gently on Phil's heavily bandaged and splinted up hand, taking care not to disturb anything. His hand was bandaged for a reason after all. "Jasper. He's my best friend. We've been through too much together. I have to avenge that."

"Melinda-look at him He tried to avenge S.H.I.E.L.D and who knows how many broken bones he has now-I don't think even the doctors know"

"If you want to stay behind, that's fine. But I'm going to find Lane. I know how dangerous he is." Melinda said, gently running her thumb along Phil's fingers. "I know he's the reason we're stood in intensive care visiting our critically ill friend because Lane is the one who put Phil here."

"I don't get it, Melinda, are you just stupid?"

"Maybe I am, Jasper. But Phil Coulson is my best friend and any person who dares hut him will damn well not get away with it." Melinda snarled.

"I've seen him like this a few times now and it doesn't get any easier." Came the voice of Nick Fury as he entered the room.

"Only two people allowed at a time." Jasper mumbled.

"I'm his S.O. I get a pass." Fury grunted, rubbing his eye. "So tell me, what were you arguing about?"

"Agent May wants to get revenge on Lane for throwing Agent Coulson off that rooftop, Commander Fury." Jasper said causing Melinda to glare at him.

"May, I don't blame you." Fury said gently, much to her surprise.

"I can't sleep at night, Commander Fury. I just..." Melinda took a deep breath. "It's like the incident replays in my mind. And the fall-the sickening crunch of bones when he landed, the thinking he was dead..."

"Calm yourself, Melinda." Fury put his hand on her shoulder. "You'll do Phil no favors by panicking. Yes, his injuries are... Extensive, to say the least _and_ he's in a coma, but if you panic, you're not doing the best you can for Phil's care."

Melinda simply nodded.

"I feel really bad for him." Jasper said to break the silence. " _Nobody_ deserves to be mummified alive. Especially not my friend."

"Think about it this way-Agent Coulson might recover. And he might recover well." Said a doctor entering the room with a clipboard. "Just because there's a high mortality rate with his kind of injuries-I'm surprised he hasn't died already, but that tells me he might go on to wake up from his coma with minimum brain damage and use a wheelchair. That's the best case scenario we're looking at here."

"Dare I ask the worst?" Melinda asked cautiously.

"He dies." The doctor replied. "But the worst case scenario outside of death is that he doesn't wake from his coma or he does, but doesn't emerge from the vegetative state. Maybe he does, but he ends up profoundly brain damaged-he took massive trauma to the head after all. Either way, he'll probably need round the clock care, no matter what scenario we're looking at."

"So we're never getting our friend back?" Jasper frowned.

"Not as you know him." The doctor replied. "I'm so sorry."

"Fury." Melinda said assertively. "I'm going to avenge Phil."

* * *

"Barton, come on!" 52 year old Coulson hissed over the comms. "Don't be an idiot."

"You mean don't be a _you_." Clint snorted back.

"Yes, Clint." Coulson sighed boredly. "Come back here and we can go over the plan-don't freelance it."

"Coulson, has anyone told you ever that you've got the personality of a wet sock?" Clint asked before pulling out his communications device.

"Barton. Barton. Clint?" Coulson asked, to no reply. "Goddamnit!" He screamed. "May, I need help! Backup! A lot of it!" He burst into a room at the Playground-May's.

"Why's that, Coulson?" May asked slowly, not looking up from her paperwork.

"Fenton Lane." Before Coulson had even finished saying the name, May's head shot up to look directly at him.

"What about him?" She asked, trying to hide her worry.

"I think we're going to have a repeat of the Fenton Lane Incident." Coulson replied. "The one that nearly put me and Fury on the Wall of Valor."

"What's happened?" May asked, getting up from her desk. "What do you mean a 'repeat'?"

"Barton's gone after Hydra." Coulson sighed. "Alone."


	3. Revelation

"Hey, Phil." 29 year old Melinda May said. She stroked the top of Phil's cheek, almost the only part of him that wasn't either wrapped in bandages, plaster, splinted, braced up, being held in traction or had and tubes or wires attached. Being still in a coma, 29 year old Phil Coulson couldn't reply.

"I lucked out." Melinda said, taking a seat next to her comatose best friend's hospital bed. "Fury put me on the task force to catch the bastard who did this to you." She sighed, sitting back and listening to the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor.

It had been three weeks since the incident and Phil showed no signs of getting better other than that most of the traction devices that were set around him in the beginning were quickly disappearing as he had his broken bones operated on and set in plaster. Physically, he was becoming more stable, even though he was still in critical condition. At least some of the swelling had gone down from Phil's face. Melinda could make out now where his eyes were, whereas before, they were obscured with all the mass swelling. The doctors thought that it was connected with his fractured skull, but Melinda was extra careful when she touched him there in case he had broken his orbital or cheek bones.

"I promise I'll get him for you." Melinda said. "You're my best friend and I hate seeing you in this condition."

"Phil, it's Nick Fury here." Nick Fury said as he walked into the room. "I promise you, I'll nail this bastard. You may have gone looking for trouble but you didn't deserve this. To-to be put in a coma. Dozens of surgeries. Dozens more injuries. Being stuck on life support machines."

"Not helping, Commander Fury." Melinda said, referring to her own guilt.

"None of this is your fault, Melinda." Fury said, shaking his head. "I put you on that task force for a reason-you are competent and able. Don't think about Phil."

"I'm just here for a friendly visit." Melinda muttered. "What if I never see him again?"

"Melinda, you're not going to die, I won't let that happen."

"No, I mean Phil." She said quietly.

"I've already told you, Melinda, not to worry about that." Fury glanced over at Coulson and sighed. "He's going to be fine"

"He's going to be in a full body cast." Melinda mumbled.

"Mmn. Yeah, probably." Fury nodded. "But that's much more preferable than death, isn't it?"

"When he wakes up, he's going to be pissed." Melinda said. "He loves his independence, even if he makes some damn stupid choices sometimes." She balled her fist up. " _If_ he wakes up."

"He will, Melinda." Fury assured. "He will."

* * *

"So you think Hydra's going to get Hawkeye and throw him off a roof?" 27 year old Daisy Johnson asked. "Oh yeah, that's _totally_ going to happen." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Daisy, be quiet." May hissed.

"Well, Lane _was_ a SHIELD agent gone bad." Coulson replied. "It's only in recent years that we knew he was actually Hydra and even _them_ he went rogue from."

"But can he come back?" Hunter asked. "Is the big question here. Do you think it's him?"

"No." May answered. "I know it's not. He's never coming back-Fury made sure of that."

"So why did you tell us that story?" Hunter shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Because it's important."

"Hearing the story of when you were put in a coma for the billionth time-"

"Hunter, stop exaggerating, it's not been a billion-"

"It feels like it-"

"Shut up!" May said loudly. "Coulson's been in three comas. That's all. Once when he was a kid after surgery, once when he was thrown off that roof and again from a gunshot wound about 8 or 9 years ago."

"Why don't you just divulge _all_ my medical history, May?" Coulson said sarcastically. "Like the time I broke my leg in ninth grade. Or how about that paper cut last Tuesday? Or when I stubbed my toe last night?"

"To be fair, sir, we do know quite a bit of it already." Simmons winced slightly. "At least all of it since you died."

"Oh yeah, _that_ happened." Coulson grumbled.

"And some of it before." Simmons said, glancing through his medical file. "Wait... You were asthmatic? And you had..."

Coulson snatched the page away from Simmons and ripped it up.

"Hey!" She protested.

"You don't need to know any of my childhood medical history." Coulson snapped.

"It's a bit of a raw subject." May said with folded arms.

"I'd have thought that uh... Dying would be." Fitz said with a nonchalant shrug.

"We need to get Hawkeye back." Coulson said. "That's why I called this meeting. Not 'oh, let's talk about our boss' medical history while he's in the room'."

"So what's your big plan to do that, Coulson?" Mack asked.

"I uh... I was hoping you guys might have some ideas." Coulson said sheepishly.

"No, no ideas how to get a missing archer back." Daisy tapped her foot.

"Bobbi, you knew him." Mack prompted.

"So we went on a few missions together, so what?" Bobbi scoffed.

May and Coulson exchanged uneasy glances.

"You were married." May said, breaking the awkward silence.

"You what?!" Hunter asked, sounding outraged.

"Big deal. You weren't my first husband, Hunter." Bobbi waved him off dismissively.

"No, Bobbi, this absolutely _is_ a big deal!"

"Ah!" Coulson shouted out. "No! There's been enough stupid revelations today! This isn't about who's been in bed with who, this is about getting Clint Barton back safely to SHIELD."

"I can't believe you married 'im!" Hunter shook his head.

"Shut up. We were drunk." Bobbi sulked.

"Oh I bet you were." Hunter scoffed and shook his head in disgust.

"What did I just say?!" Coulson threw his hands up in despair. "It almost feels like nothing I ever say gets through to you."

"Whatever." Mack said. "I'm going to try and help get Barton back. He's one of us, Mockingbird's ex hubby or not."

Everyone left Coulson's office and Simmons picked up Coulson's medical file. When she flicked through, her eyes widened in horror.

"Fitz!" She called out in more of a hiss. "Fitz!"

"What is it, Jemma?" Fitz asked, turning back.

"You _have_ to see this." Simmons said, hurriedly. "Look." She turned the file so he could better see it. "After the bit about the fall."

Fitz frowned as he read the page. "Broken bones, internal bleeding, monthlong coma-Simmons, I'm not seeing anything out the ordinary for a 200 foot fall."

"Not that." Simmons rolled her eyes. " _That_." She tapped down the bottom of the page. Fitz stifled a gasp.

"Oh wow. Do you think he knows?"

"Honestly, Fitz, I don't think he does."

"I thought that was just a _myth_. A SHIELD legend." Fitz put his hand to his head, still grappling with what he'd just seen.

"Apparently not. And Nick Fury has all the answers." Simmons closed Coulson's medical file. "We have to find him."

"Simmons no, it's too dangerous." Fitz shook his head. "And we don't even know where he is."

"But we have someone who can find him." Simmons said.


	4. Betrayal

"Come on, Barney." 17 year old Clint Barton said. "I want my cut."

"You'll get your cut when you do something to deserve it." 21 year old Barney Barton sneered.

"It was my skills that stole that money, Barney, and well you know it." Clint snapped.

"If you hate it so much with me, why don't you leave?" Barney said, counting the money.

Clint gripped his bow harder and growled. "You're just so fucking arrogant. You're responsible for me until I'm 18."

"That's right. And right now, you're 17. So listen to what I say."

"You're going to put us both in jail, Barney. You know that? And if you're gonna put me in jail when I'm 17, I'm gonna. Demand. My. Cut." Clint folded his arms.

Barney pushed him down onto the floor and snorted. "No, pipsqueak, you'll no money. Carry on defying me like that and I'll _personally_ turn _you_ in to the authorities."

"You wouldn't dare." Clint said, picking himself up.

"Oh. But I would." Barney gave an evil smirk as he pointed to a picture on the nearby table. "It would appear that you're a murderer, little brother."

Clint stood up, horrified. How had Barney got a picture of that? He snatched the photo and his eyes scanned it over. There it was, clear as day. Clint murdering a security guard with an arrow to the eye. All the color drained from his face as he set the photo down.

"See, little brother?" Barney raised an eyebrow. "It always pays to have a bargaining chip."

* * *

"Is that all you got?" 38 year old Clint Barton sneered. He was tied up to a chair and being beaten by a senior member of Hydra.

"We want to know about the Infinity Formula!" The hydra guy shouted.

"Okay, Bob-I'm guessing that's your name, right? Bob?" Clint raised a bloody eyebrow. "Well I'm going to call you Bob. So Bob, I know nothing about the Infinity Formula. I don't know if you know this, but..."

"Shut up, Hawkeye!" 'Bob' said before striking Clint on the cheek. "I know who you are and I know you know something about the Infinity Formula."

"How come I never heard of it before ten seconds ago, Bob?" Clint smirked.

"You lie. And rest assured, we will get it out of you."

"Right, so since you have me in your custody or whatever, am I not entitled to a one phone call?" Clint asked. "I mean, I get that you're a threatening World War II terrorist organization-"

"Believe me, we've been around _much_ longer than that." 'Bob' snarled.

"Toh-may-to, toh-mah-to." Clint said dismissively. "You're a terrorist organization. Your job is to terrorize people-namely SHIELD and intelligent people who may or may not pose a threat to Hydra-I was told about Zola's Algorithm." He said before the agent could respond. "But human rights abuses? Come on. You and I both know you're above all that Al Qaeda, Taliban, ISIL nonsense." He nodded and wrinkled his nose slightly. "You're a good terrorist group-hell, you keep _me_ on _my_ toes. With the... Downfall of SHIELD. And human experimentation-Wanda and Pietro... They're Avengers now. So I guess you could say we keep _you_ guys on _your_ toes too. We're like the ultimate rivals. And that's why I know you're better. Better than Al Qaeda, better than Islamic State, better than the Taliban-even better than AIM." He nodded and widened his eyes. "Yeah. So what do you say, Bob? Do I get a phone call?"

'Bob' considered it for a few brief moments. "No." He snapped. "And my name's not Bob. It's Charles."

"Oh, you're a poor sport." Clint rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. "I probably don't need it anyway. Chances are I've got the entire SHIELD organization out looking for me. And all the Avengers-ooh, Captain America's taken you down twice before, he'll do it a third time. And then there's my older brother."

'Bob' Charles snorted. "You poor unfortunate soul. You think your brother's coming for you."

"And I don't see what's so funny about that, Bob."

"I've already told you-my name is Charles!" He shouted in Clint's face. "Or have you gotten more deaf in your old age?" He pushed Clint's head down and turned it to the side, giving a hard smack to his temple. A small flesh colored and black sort of ball fell out. "My, what small hearing aids you have." He cackled as he squashed the device between his fingers.

"How-how did you I wear hearing aids?" Clint asked. "I don't tell people that. Only a few people know that."

"I know that, Clint, because I know _you_." 'Bob' Charles pulled off his cowl and gave a wicked smirk.

"Barney." Clint said in shock.

"My. Name. Is. Charles!" Barney exploded and punched Clint repeatedly in the face until the younger brother passed out. Or not. It was difficult to tell because of the swelling around his eyes.


End file.
